POPE CURBS MEXICO VOTE PROTEST

AP

Published: July 21, 1986

CHIHUAHUA, Mexico, July 20—
Pope John Paul II blocked plans by the local Roman Catholic archdiocese to cancel masses today as a protest of purported election fraud, and ordered the churches in the state of Chihuahua to hold services as usual.

Archbishop Adalberto Almeida Merino and 100 priests in the Chihuahua archdiocese had announced the action to protest the official results of state elections held July 6.

But in a letter to the priests on Saturday, Archbishop Almeida said that ''a communique arrived from Rome telling us not to suspend worship services on Sunday the 20th.''

''The Pope doesn't want the people to go without the Eucharist,'' he said.

Archbishop Almeida added, however, that the protest over voting irregularities had not been called off.

''Our denunciation with respect to the electoral fraud remains intact and is supported also by the Holy Father because it deals with a grave violation of human rights that he continuously and energetically has denounced,'' the Archbishop said.

The official results show the Institutional Revolutionary Party, the dominant party in Mexico, having won the governorship, all 14 state legislative seats and 65 of 67 mayoralties.